New paper from the group: Walk times to water source and health

Freshwater Availability and Water Fetching Distance Affect Child Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

Amy J. Pickering and Jennifer Davis
Environ. Sci. Technol., Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/es203177v
Publication Date (Web): January 12, 2012

Currently, more than two-thirds of the population in Africa must leave their home to fetch water for drinking and domestic use. The time burden of water fetching has been suggested to influence the volume of water collected by households as well as time spent on income generating activities and child care. However, little is known about the potential health benefits of reducing water fetching distances. Data from almost 200 000 Demographic and Health Surveys carried out in 26 countries were used to assess the relationship between household walk time to water source and child health outcomes. To estimate the causal effect of decreased water fetching time on health, geographic variation in freshwater availability was employed as an instrumental variable for one-way walk time to water source in a two-stage regression model. Time spent walking to a household’s main water source was found to be a significant determinant of under-five child health. A 15-min decrease in one-way walk time to water source is associated with a 41% average relative reduction in diarrhea prevalence, improved anthropometric indicators of child nutritional status, and a 11% relative reduction in under-five child mortality. These results suggest that reducing the time cost of fetching water should be a priority for water infrastructure investments in Africa.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es203177v

A holiday flush with need: World Toilet Day op-ed

Palo Alto, CA (CNN) -- It does not make for pleasant dinner conversation. But we have a global sanitation crisis. More than 40% of the world's population does not have access to a toilet. These 2.6 billion people, most living in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, face the daily challenge of finding a bush, train track or empty lot where they can urinate and defecate in relative privacy.

Between 1990 and 2008, the share of the world's population that had access to basic sanitation increased only 7%, to 61% of the world's citizens. In many developing countries, mobile phone penetration is expanding at a faster rate than sanitation. In Tanzania, for example, half the country's citizens have mobile phones, but only 24% use an improved sanitation facility.

Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of World Toilet Day, a day set aside not simply as a celebration of this most venerable and useful of technologies, but as a way to draw attention to the crisis and some possible solutions.

This sanitation crisis is not only an affront to dignity. It results in the release of hundreds of tons of feces and urine each day directly into rivers, lakes, landfills and oceans, creating an immense human and environmental health hazard. Every day more than 4,000 young children die from sanitation-related illness. Fully half of the hospital beds in the developing world are occupied by people whose ailments can be traced to poor sanitation.

Full story: www.cnn.com/2011/11/19/opinion/davis-toilet-day/index.html?hpt=op_t1

New paper from the group on urban water resale

Water supply services for Africa's urban poor: the role of resale

Valentina Zuin, Leonard Ortolano, Manuel Alvarinho, Kory Russel, Anne Thebo, Odete Muximpua and Jennifer Davis

Journal of Water and Health Vol 9 No 4 pp 773–784 © IWA Publishing 2011 doi:10.2166/wh.2011.031

ABSTRACT: In sub-Saharan Africa only 35% of the urban population has access to a piped water connection on their premises. The majority of households obtain water from public standpipes or from neighbors who are connected to the municipal network. Water resale is often prohibited, however, because of concerns about affordability and risks to public health. Using data collected from 1,377 households in Maputo, Mozambique, we compare the microbiological quality, as well as the time and money costs of water supply from individual house connections, public standpipes, and water obtained from neighbors. Households with their own water connections have better service across virtually all indicators measured, and express greater satisfaction with their service, as compared with those using other water sources. Households purchasing water from their neighbors pay lower time and money costs per liter of water, on average, as compared with those using standpipes. Resale competes favorably with standpipes along a number of service quality dimensions; however, after controlling for water supply characteristics, households purchasing water from neighbors are significantly less likely to be satisfied with their water service as compared with those using standpipes.

http://www.iwaponline.com/jwh/009/jwh0090773.htm?utm_source=IWA+Publishing+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=5e6da0a4b7-ContentsAlert_JWH94_Nov11&utm_medium=email

New paper from the group: Observational study of household WASH behavior

N. Badowski, C. Castro, M. Montgomery, A. Pickering, S. Mamuya, and J. Davis. "Understanding Household Behavioral Risk Factors for Diarrheal Disease in Dar es Salaam: A Photovoice Community Assessment." Journal of Environmental and Public Health, Vol. 2011( 130467). doi:10.1155/2011/130467.

Abstract: Whereas Tanzania has seen considerable improvements in water and sanitation infrastructure over the past 20 years, the country still faces high rates of childhood morbidity from diarrheal diseases. This study utilized a qualitative, cross-sectional, modified Photovoice method to capture daily activities of Dar es Salaam mothers. A total of 127 photographs from 13 households were examined, and 13 interviews were conducted with household mothers. The photographs and interviews revealed insufficient hand washing procedures, unsafe disposal of wastewater, uncovered household drinking water containers, a lack of water treatment prior to consumption, and inappropriate toilets for use by small children. The interviews revealed that mothers were aware and knowledgeable of the risks of certain household practices and understood safer alternatives, yet were restricted by the perceived impracticality and financial constraints to make changes. The results draw attention to the real economic and behavioral challenges faced in reducing the spread of disease.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2011/130467/

Stanford Program on Water, Health & Development

The Stanford Program on Water, Health & Development works with partners in low- and middle-income countries to (1) strengthen the scientific basis for decision-making in the water and sanitation sector, particularly with reference to non-networked populations, (2) enhance capacity within developing countries for sustainable water and wastewater management, (3) provide unique training and learning opportunities for faculty and students at Stanford and partner universities, and (4) improve the health and well-being of households in some of the world’s poorest countries.

For more information, see h2o.stanford.edu

Water kiosk cartel in Mombasa

The Nairobi Star reports the discovery of a water kiosk cartel in the coast region of Kenya that has been colluding to drive up the price of water supplied through those point sources. From the April 28, 2011 issue, reporter Brian Otieno writes that

"Coast Water Services Board has unearthed a cartel involving some water kiosk owners in Mikindani, Mombasa who conspire to create an artificial shortage in the area.

"The water board boss Andy Tolla said some of the water kiosk owners have been filling their huge underground water tanks and wait untill the pipes run dry before selling the water for as much as Sh7 per 20-litre jerrican."

Ksh 7/20 liters is equivalent to US$3.73 per cubic meter--about 2.7 times what my family pays per unit volume for in-home water supply services. The successful rent-seeking by kiosk operators thus illustrates the claim that researchers have been making for some time: Even urban poor families are willing to pay considerable amounts of money for water supply services. (This is not to be confused with the normative question of whether charging such high prices is an acceptable thing to do, which is a separate issue.)

But the curious thing here is the proposed solution:

"Tolla however said measures have been put in place to break up the cartel. He said new regulations that are being implemented will effectively stop the practice.

In the new policies, water companies like the Mombasa Water and Sewerage Company will regulate water kiosks. The companies will decide how many kiosks are needed in what areas. Licences will only be given to water kiosks where the companies deem absolutely necessary."

Given the obvious challenges with regulation of the kiosk sub-sector, wouldn't the most cost-effective solution to collusion be increasing, rather than decreasing, competition? Won't the restriction of license supply, and the concentration of power over who gets them into a few hands, simply create opportunities for new types of rent-seeking (and reduce the availability of water supplies to households)?

http://www.nairobistar.com/local/coast/22465-water-kiosks-cartel

"Poop n paddle" demo in NY

Here's an entertaining video about a floating toilet that uses anaerobic digestion and mini constructed wetlands to process the excreta. The facility was built by Adam Katzman in Queens, NY.